Taping head for cable insulating machines



Aug. 24, 1948. c. o. BRUESTL E 2,447,341

TAPING HEAD FOR'CABLE INSULATING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Car/ 0. 5/1/53 f/e A TORNEY Aug. 24, 1948. c. o. BRUESTLE 7,

TAPING HEAD FOR CABLE INSULATING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Car/ 0. Bruesf/e WHQJZ ATTORNEYS Aug. 24, 1948. c. o. BRUESTLE TAPING HEAD FOR CABLE INSULATING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR Car/ 0. Bruexf/e ATTORNEYS 1948. c. o. BRUESTLE 2,447,841

TAPING HEAD FOR CABLE INSULATING MACHI TNE Original Filed Oct. 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR .Car/ 0. Bruesf/e k d; V AT ORNEYS Patented Aug. 24, 1948 TAPINGIHEAD FOR MAC ABLE: INSULATING HINES- Carl" 0. Bruestle', Rahway,. N: 1., assignor to" Syncro Machine-Company, Perth Amboy, N; Ia, a corporation of New Jersey'- Original application October: 20,1945, Serial No. 623,542. Dividedand this application August 14, I947, SerialNo. 768,635-

4"Glaims.

Thisinventionrelates to improvements in taping heads of the type used on a common form of machine for wrapping tapes around elongated members as, for example, insulating. tapes on electric cables.

A broad object of: this invention is to provide a simplified construction characterized by'a considerable reduction in the weight of the parts thereof and reductionin'thecost'of manufacturing such machines.

Another object of" this invention is to provide a taping head support adapted to receive the taping: heads in the form of unitary structures which may be bodily adjusted longitudinally of the path" of cable travel.

Another object ofthis'invention' is'to'provide an improved brake band constructionfor such devices whereby the life thereof is greatly increased.

A' further object of this inventionis to provide an improved and simplified form of adjustable tape tensioning device fortapingheads.

Otherand more detailedob'jects of the inventioniwill be apparent from the following description of" the embodiment of the invention illustrated in, the attached drawings.

This'inventi'on residessubstantially in the combination, construction, arrangement and relativelocation of" parts aswill' be described in detail below.

This application is a division of my-copending application Serial No. 6233542,, filed October 20, 1945; for" Taping head for cable insulating machine.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front elevational view atom of the-tape heads as viewed fromth'e' plane l-l of Figure 3;

Figure 2 is a rear elevational view ofthe mechanism of Figure IWlth the support for the taping head omitted;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal; vertical, central, cross-sectional view through the taping head and support";

Figure-4 is-across-sectional view taken on the line *4-4' of Figure 5' showing'the mechanism for adjusting the tape-tension;

Figure 5 is a cross sectiona'l viewof the same device taken on the line-5"5 of Figure 4';

Figure "6 is an enlarged detailedcross sectional view of the safety stop of the tensioning device.

Specifically" in the art of insulating" electric cablesby-applyinga plurality of helical wraps of insulating tape in superposed layers; there are employed many'form's of a= general type ofma-* 2 chine in which the cable is pulledin the direction of its length therethrough'. Rotating about the cable onan axis coincident with the cable axis is oneormore'tapingmechanisms each comprising aplurality of taping headswhich, as they rotate aroundthe cable, each feed a tape thereto and wrap-it therearound'. In some of the larger machines it is not unusual to simultaneously apply as many asone hundred tapes. The insulating tapescome in the form of' heavy reels which are mounted on the'machine and bodily rotate on the axis of the cable as well as revolve on their own centers during the application of the tape. Obviously machines of this typerun to large dimensions-and are of massive construction with the result that at the high speeds of operation prac ticed tremendous centrifugal'forces are generated. It naturally follows, therefore, that the construc tion must be massive and strong to withstand these forces.

As a result of these fundamental combinations, these typesof wrapping machines have always ten'dedtobeheavy and massive. This invention is concerned with mechanism by means of which the tension on" the tape during application can beactively controlled and the tape reels brought toa quick stopwh'enthe tape breaks or runs out.

The mechanism. illustrated in the drawings showsonly'one taping station although a number of them can be arranged in axial alignment with respect to the cable if'desired.

Referring to Figure 3,. a portion of the main frame of the machine is indicated at l5. Journalled .therein on'suitable bearings H5 is a hollow arbor or. tubular shaft in which is caused to revolve at the proper speeds by, means of a suitable power'source, not.shown. The cable to be taped,- as'is ,well understood in this art, is pulled in the direction of; its length through the tubular shaft -I land, in the case of Figure 3, in a direction frornleft to right.v The tapes are applied to the cable in the desired overlapping relation by means of. taping heads. one of which isgenerally indicated by. the reference numeral l4 in Figures 1 and 3. Mounted ontheshaft IS, in this case on the forwardmo'stend thereof, is ataping head support or: saddle-:I-I which is of generally rectangular configuration and-has-a central passage of a" size so'that it maybe slippedon the end of the shaft. It: is locked on the shaft between seats formed thereon as shown comprising an abutment ring 3 If desired, the saddle II can be further secured in place by means of a suitable key, not shown.

On each of the outer faces of the saddle I I are formed guide seats I2 in which a complementarily shaped slide I3 will fit in an axial direction. Secured on the saddle I I (see Figure 3) by means of bolts (not shown) is a standard 20 which has a bore therethrough in which one end of a rod 2I lies. The other end of this rod is threaded and engages a threaded lug 22 on the slide I3. The other end of rod 2I has secured to it a locking collar 2 I and has a wrench receiving portion 2 la so that when bolts 23 are loosened, the rod 2I can be turned to cause the slide I3 to move on the seat I2 of the saddle i I in an axial direction either Way by reason of its threaded engagement with the lug 22. The parts may then be locked in adjusted position by means of bolts 23. The reason for this adjustment will be referred to later in the description of the operation.

The slide I3 has an elongated slot 24 on each side thereof through which the bolts 23 pass down into the saddle IE. After the above adjustment the bolts 23 are tightened to lock the taping head assembly on the saddle against displacement during operation of the machine. In Figure 3 the taping head is shown at its extreme righthand position and can be advanced to the left upon loosening the bolts 23 by the adjustment described above. In passing it may be mentioned that the ring I8 mounted on the rear end of the saddle I l and shown insulated therefrom is a slip ring for and electrical control circuit with which this disclosure is not concerned.

Integral with the slide I3 and extending upwardly at right angles thereto is a supporting plate 25 suitably braced, as shown in Figure 3, and having a bearing housing 25 at the upper end thereof. Journalled in this housing in suitable bearings is a shaft 21 on which the taping reel mechanism is mounted. On the lefthand end of this shaft is secured a brake drum 28 the periphery of which is engaged by a suitable brake band 29, one end of which is anchored on the bracket 25 at 31, as shown in Figure 2. The other end of the brake band is flexibly connected to the bifurcated end piece 32 mounted on a longitudinally slidable rod 33. Slidably mounted on this rod is a short rack bar 34 which is guided in its movement by a track forming member 35 (see Figures 2 and 3). The rack bar is loaded by a compression spring 35 lying between it and a pair of lock nuts on the end of the shaft 33. The rack bar engages a segmental gear 31 keyed to the shaft 38.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the shaft 38 extends into a housing 43 and has an anchor ring 39 keyed thereon to receive the hooked end M! of a spiral spring 48. The other, that is the hooked end ll of this spring, is anchored in an external ring gear 42 which rotates in the closely fitting housing 43. This gear is engaged by a worm 44 journalled in a suitable formation forming part of the housing 43 on a shaft which has a wrench receiving end 45. The ring gear 42 is provided with a pin positioned to engage a stop pin 4'! mounted on the housing 43. The housing it on its outer face has a window opening 43 through which, as is clear from Figure 10, the side face of the ring gear 42 can be seen and upon which arbitrary tension indicating symbols can be marked.

Turning to Figures 1 and 4, the end 38' of the shaft 38 has secured thereon a lever 49 having an extension 50 on which is mounted an adjust- 4 able screw positioned to actuate a switch 5I mounted on the plate 25 which switch is provided to control the automatic stopping of the machine, a feature which is no part of this invention.

The lever 59 is pivotally connected by a link 52 to a lever 53 which is pivotally mounted on a bearing pin 54 secured on plate 25. The lever 53 has a rearward extension to engage an adjustable stop screw 55. The other end of the lever 53 is provided with a guide roller 56 (see Figures 1 and 3). Also mounted on the plate 25 are a pair of fixed guide rollers 51 and 58. The path of the tape over these rollers is shown in Figure 1 by the symbol T.

A swiveling tape guide mechanism generally indicated at I00 is mounted on the plate 25 and although shown in considerable detail is not further referred to here since it is not a part of this invention but is in fact disclosed in United States Patent No. 1,997,689. It includes, however, a guide roller IlII swivelly mounted so that the tape will be properly guided to the cable from the idler 58. As is well known in the art, this guide assembly E can be shifted from the position shown in Figure 1 to the other side of the path of travel of the cable so that the tape may be applied thereto in either rotational direction.

The proper tension on the tape can easily be determined from experience and arbitrary data and the tape can be put under that tension by rotating the worm 44 by the application of a suitable tool at 45 so as to properly load the spring 43. The proper loading can be represented by predetermined arbitrary symbols which are marked on the ring gear 42 so that they can move into the viewing window 43'. At this point it may be stated that the stop comprising the pin 46 and the screw 47 (see Figure 5) is merely provided to prevent an unthinking workman from rotating the worm M in the wrong direction which if carried too far could damage the spring 48 by forcibly uncoiling it.

The tape is removed from the reel along the path shown in Figure 1 so as to first pass around the fixed idler 51, thence around the idler 56 on the pivot arm 53, and from there around fixed idler 58 to the guide roller IEiI of the swivel guide assembly. When the spring 48 is properly tensioned the arm 53 will assume some position similar to that shown in Figure 1 since it is connected to the arm 49 attached to the shaft 38. At this time switch 5I is open or closed depending on the type of switch used and the type of com trol circuit for the control mechanism which in turn controls the power source for the machine, the object of the mechanism being such that the switch 5I is now in the position where the machine may run under its normal controls.

Also at this time the brake band 29 is released from the drum 28 by reason of the fact that the segmental rack 31 is also secured to the shaft 38 and the tape has rotated the shaft 38 to release the brake band. At this point it may be noted that the arm 30 (see Figure l) is merely provided to limit outer radial movement of the brake band.

The machine is now ready to run and, of course, as the cable moves through the shaft II] the taping heads rotate about it to lay the tape on the to actuate the control mechanism to shut the machine down so that the tape can be repaired or a new roll placed on the empty reel.

This leaves only the brake mechanism to be referred to. When the tape breaks or runs out and the machine is shut down, the brake is automatically applied to stop rotation of the reel assembly which in modern high speed machines may be at a high rotational rate. The braking action is simply accomplished by the action of the segmental gear 31 on the rack 34 under the influence of the coil spring 48 which is released at this time as previously described. Referring to Figure 2, the action of this spring is to cause clockwise rotation of the gear 31 which moves the rack 34 towards the right and carries the rod 33 to the right through the intermediate agency of the spring 36. It will be seen that this causes the brake band 29 to grip the brake drum 28 under the action of spring 48 so as to bring the reel assembly to a quick stop with respect to its rotation on the axis of shaft 21 since the brake drum 28 is attached to this shaft (see Figure 3). Thus by the time the machine comes to a stop the reel is stationary with respect to its axis of rotation. The important feature of construction of the brake mechanism is the arrangement whereby the pull on the brake band exerted by this mechanism is in a tangential direction with respect to the drum 28 so that crystallization and fatigue of the end of the brake band at its point of connection in the yoke 32 is greatly reduced if not entirely prevented. As shown in Figure 2, the end of the brake band has a pivotal mounting in the yoke 32 so that it is insured in its tangential direction for all positions of the mechanism.

From the above description, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the subject matter of this invention is capable of modification as to its physical forms without departure from the 40 essence thereof and I do not, therefore, desire to be limited to the disclosure but rather by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cable wrapping machine, a taping head including a support, a shaft journaled on said support, a tape reel and a brake drum secured to said shaft, a brake band cooperating with said brake drum and having one end anchored on said support, and means for applying and releasing said brake including a member connected to said band, and means for slidably supporting said member so as to move it in a tangential direction with respect to said drum in applying and releasing the brake, said last means including a spring loaded segmental gear, a slidably mounted rack engaging said gear, and means interconnecting said rack with said member.

2. In the combination of claim 1, said means interconnecting said rack with said member in-. cluding a resilient member.

3.1m the combination of claim 1, said last means including a member pivotally connected to the end of the brake band.

4. In the combination of claim 1, said brake applying means including a spring loaded tensioning arm and means for adjusting the loading of said spring.

CARL O. BRUESTLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

